A fuel cell may replace a battery for supplying power to consumable electronic goods, such as a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a smart device, and the like, and may be finely processed to directly supply power to computer chips. Additional commercial applications of the fuel cell are possible. For example, fuel cells may replace an internal combustion engine for a vehicle.
Known configurations of the fuel cell commonly require oxygen for performing a chemical process of a battery. Other power sources such as an internal combustion engine (e.g., a diesel engine) also require oxygen. In most commercial purposes, it is preferable to directly supply the oxygen from the atmosphere.
However, pollutants are present in the atmosphere. The pollutants may include larger particles such as loose debris, worms, and tree blossom or smaller particles floating in the atmosphere, such as dust, pollen, smog, and smoke particles. Chemical pollutants are also widely present in the atmosphere. Typical chemical pollutants may include aromatic hydrocarbons, methanol, butane, propane, and other hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds such as ammonia, nitrogen oxide, ozone, smog, sulfur oxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide.
Since efficient operation of the fuel cell relies on a chemical reaction in which chemicals are elaborately balanced, the pollutants in the air which are used in the battery may produce a side effect during operation of the battery, thereby potentially interrupting the operation of the fuel cell. Therefore, a fuel cell device can be designed to remove harmful pollutants and include a filtering device to filter said pollutants.